Looking to add some biometric security to your PC? Check out the APC Biometric Mouse Password Manager. This device combines a fingerprint scanner, mouse usage, password management, and file encryption capabilities into one unit. The fingerprint scanner is located in the palm rest of the mouse which seems like an odd place to put it but then again, we’re not sure where else you could place the feature. HardwareSecrets reviews the mouse here and finds:

• Enables mouse usage, password management and file encryption in a single gadget.
• Easy configuration and finger enrollment for first time users.
• Never misread a fingerprint.
• The encryption feature is a big plus.

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Needing a little dual core madness in your laptop? You might want to check out the Rockdirect Xtreme 64 4800+ laptop which comes complete with an AMD Athlon64 X2 4800+ dual core processor which is actually clocked at 2.4GHz. Other features on this laptop include 2GB of memory, a 17 inch widescreen LCD display, an NVIDIA GeForce Go 6800 Ultra graphics chipset, WiFi, Bluetooth, and a DVD burner. Hexus reviews this behemoth here and finds:

Think carefully about what you want a laptop to do. If it’s huge power on all fronts, rivalling decent desktop PCs, then the Rockdirect laptop fully deserves its Xtreme name, because once outfitted with a GeForce Go 7800 256MB card there’s not much available that will outmuscle it. Does the near-£2500 Rockdirect Xtreme 64 4800+ offer decent value for money? Probably not. Does it offer performance in spades? Yes, yes, and yes. A product for the niche market that requires power above all else.

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ViperLair reviews the Silverstone Lascala SST-LC10B HTPC case here. I’ve always found Silverstone cases to be attractive offerings for home theater PC’s - although I could live without the branding that is found in the front. The LC10B is a large HTPC case. In fact, it’s probably a bit larger than what you might want for a living room based PC.

We think the Silverstone Lascala SST-LC10B definitely has the right look to go with the rest of your living room A/V components. Putting everything together is quite easy, but upgrading the PC afterwards is a little more tedious than it needs to be.

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Is the Xbox 360 running a bit too hot for your liking? Well if you’re in Vegas for the CES event in a few weekends, then you’ll want to drop by the CoolIT Systems booth to check out their demonstration of a liquid cooled Xbox 360. They’ll be showing side by side Xbox 360’s - one CoolIT MTEC liquid chilled Xbox 360 and one standard one - and showing the temps, noise, and performance of the systems. I assume CoolIT will be creating a product that allows people to mod their Xbox 360’s to replace the stock heatsink / fans with the new MTEC solution. I personally don’t have a problem with the system heat but the noise level could be reduced a bit.

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GearLive has posted their review of the new Motorola RAZR V3c mobile phone for Verizon Wireless here. I don’t think we need to give you the specs for the V3c since it’s been talked about quite a bit over the last month or so. Summed up - the V3c is a minor upgrade to the V3 - a slightly better camera and of course CDMA support. One nice thing - it doesn’t look like Verizon Wireless cripped the Bluetooth features. So here’s the lowdown from GearLive:

In the end, it is a good phone - not a great one. It isn’t a phone that is meant to replace a digital camera, but it is adequate for those impromptu shots during the day. It also isn’t loaded up with a ton of features that many phone aficionados clamor for. All of that said, the RAZR V3c is still a good phone that is (mostly) good at its primary function….making and receiving phone calls. It didn’t live up to all of the hype it received, but how often does anything?

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PC Magazine takes a look at Virgin’s top of the line phone - the Virgin Slider Sonic here. Virgin Mobile is becoming more and more popular to users out there with it’s prepaid calling plans but their phone selection has been lacking to say the least. The Slider Sonic is a varient of the Kyocera KX5 mobile phone and comes with a 1.9 inch 176 x 220 color screen. Other features include TransFlash card support, MP3 player support, and VGA camera. Unfortunately there isn’t any Bluetooth support inside and PC Mag finds:

Virgin Mobile’s top-of-the-line phone pales in comparison to other carriers’ offerings.

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Looking to add storage space to your home network? How about the GLAN Tank Media Server. With this NAS device, you can house two 3.5 inch hard drives in either mirrored or striped fashion. The GLAN Tank is actually a full fledged server system running a version of Debian Linux on top of an Intel XScale 416MHz processor. Pretty nifty. Other features include gigabit Ethernet, 128MB of RAM, and 4 USB 2.0 ports when you want to connect other devices to it. The idea of having a NAS on the network is more and more appealing to me as I plan to house all of my digital content centrally on my home network.

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Nokia and CompUSA have announced that Nokia will be showcasing their products at every CompUSA location by March of 2006. CompUSA will also be the exclusive offline retail home to the Nokia 770 Internet Tablet appliance. This is all part of Nokia’s strategy to market directly at consumers instead of having to go through wireless companies or offline stores. So the end result? You’ll probably see a small Nokia setup at every CompUSA with mobile phones and accessories strewn about.

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More secrets from the FCC filings… It looks like there will be a dual band CDMA version of the popular Firefly mobile phone for kids. The Firefly phone has special keys specifically for mom and dad and also has an emergency call button. Nothing complex on the Firefly phone - you won’t find a numeric keypad or anything. If anything - this is the phone parents will want to give to their kids - not necessarily the phone kids will want of course

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So did you end up getting one of these bad boys for Christmas? I thought about getting one for my nephews but my goodness they’re huge - what am I referring to? The Robosapien V2 of course. PC Magazine reviews this behemoth here and finds:

This isn’t your kid’s Robosapien. The new model is as juvenile as ever, but much bigger, smarter, and more expensive.

So you too can own your very own robot - albeit a bit clunky and not quite something from A.I. or iRobot.

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